"Everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was." --Robert Louis Stevenson
Incremental Prepping
Photo credit: vichie81
To a beginning prepper, and to any prepper on a limited budget, starting out can be daunting. Where to begin? What do you buy first? How do you start? Here are a few suggestions to get you going.
Try to view prepping as a habit, or a hobby, or a system of tithing. It should be constant and on-going, not something that you spend a single Saturday afternoon doing and then call it good. (Although, it's better to spend a Saturday afternoon doing something to prepare - anything at all - rather than do nothing whatsoever.) Still, it does not need to be an all-consuming pastime and it certainly does not need to be expensive. The key to successful prepping is the word: "Incremental". Don't do it all at once; you'll bust your budget and burn out. Do it incrementally.
I made a vow early on in my prepping career that any time I was spending money on anything that I needed today, I would spend a small portion of money on something that I might need tomorrow: "If I can afford these groceries today, then I can afford some extra groceries for tomorrow." I consider it a type of tithe to myself and my future. Every time I add something to my stockpile, I feel as if I've made an addition to an important bank account. Here are some ideas for painlessly increasing your prepping "savings account":
These are the simple ways in which you can prepare for tomorrow without putting a dent in the checkbook today. Just be sure that once you start, you stay committed to the purpose.
Try to view prepping as a habit, or a hobby, or a system of tithing. It should be constant and on-going, not something that you spend a single Saturday afternoon doing and then call it good. (Although, it's better to spend a Saturday afternoon doing something to prepare - anything at all - rather than do nothing whatsoever.) Still, it does not need to be an all-consuming pastime and it certainly does not need to be expensive. The key to successful prepping is the word: "Incremental". Don't do it all at once; you'll bust your budget and burn out. Do it incrementally.
I made a vow early on in my prepping career that any time I was spending money on anything that I needed today, I would spend a small portion of money on something that I might need tomorrow: "If I can afford these groceries today, then I can afford some extra groceries for tomorrow." I consider it a type of tithe to myself and my future. Every time I add something to my stockpile, I feel as if I've made an addition to an important bank account. Here are some ideas for painlessly increasing your prepping "savings account":
- Tithe ten percent of your grocery budget. If you're spending $50 on groceries you need now, spend an extra $5 on groceries you may need later.
- On January 1st of every year, make a vow that every single time you walk into a grocery store for whatever reason, you'll walk out with a particular specific item as well, which will go into the stockpile. For instance, one year I vowed that every time I went to get groceries, I would also buy a single can of tuna. It didn't matter if I was going into the store to buy $100 worth of food or a single loaf of bread; I ALWAYS walked out of that store with an extra can of tuna as well, which would go into storage. After a year of collecting a single can of tuna every time, I switched to peanut butter and bought one jar of it every time I entered a store. After a year of that, I switched to cocoa powder. The next year it was hot chocolate mix. One trip at a time and one dollar at a time, the stockpile starts to add up, without denting the budget a bit.
- If there are stores that consistently carry certain items cheaper than anywhere else, pledge that every time you enter that store, you'll pick up one of those items. Examples: Walgreens has the cheapest sardines in town, so every time I need to go to Walgreens, whether for a prescription or a roll of toilet paper, I will also buy one can of sardines. One hardware store in town sells cigarette lighters for 25 cents each, so every single time I need an item at that hardware store, I spend an extra dollar buying four cigarette lighters. The lumber yard sells tarps for a buck and I pick one up every time I go there. Any time I go to the local dollar store to buy junk food or plastic toys or cheap shampoo, I also walk out with at least one item that would help me in a SHTF scenario: a box of matches; a bag of beans; a bottle of bleach. "Something for today; something for tomorrow" is the name of the game.
- Every time you eat out, make a commitment to spend the same amount of money on a non-perishable food purchase at your local warehouse store. When my husband and I eat at Perkins or Appleby's or Pizza Hut, it usually costs us about $25 for that single meal. If we're flush enough to spend $25 on one meal, I don't feel guilty at all going to Costco the next day and spending $25 on a 20-lb bag of beans and a 25-lb sack or rice, which would keep us fed for an entire winter. If you can afford to spend $4 every day at Starbucks, is it really going to send you to the poor house to also spend $4 a day on whole coffee beans that will last indefinitely? If you purchase a $6 meal at McDonalds, is it really impossible to fit another $6 worth of spaghetti noodles into your budget?
- Every time you get a paycheck, set aside a $20 bill (or a $10 bill, or a $100 bill) and hide it in your cash stash. Little by little, that cash cache adds up, and it might come in really handy when the ATMs are down or the banks are closed.
- Every time you turn over a new page on your monthly wall calendar, remind yourself that it's time to visit your local Re-Store to check for whatever boards you can buy for a buck. Even if you buy only one board a month, if you continue to do indefinitely, by the time SHTF, you'll have quite a pile of good sturdy boards. See the section on Covert Prepping for ideas on places to store boards where they don't take up any space.
- Make a commitment to stop by at least one second-hand outlet once a week for the purpose of purchasing something that would help you out in a crisis. Visit thrift stores, flea markets, pawn shops, estate sales, garage sales which often offer incredible deals on things like camping gear, bug out bags, tools, and clothing. Spend $10 on things you would need if you had to walk home from work in a storm, or blow $20 on stuff that would be useful the day after a tornado, hurricane or hail storm hit your house.
These are the simple ways in which you can prepare for tomorrow without putting a dent in the checkbook today. Just be sure that once you start, you stay committed to the purpose.